I was driving my vehicle a short distance from my home in Florida. I was stopped at a red right waiting to turn left when I began to smell burning and then the car started to fill with smoke. I pulled over and exited the parked car and opened the passenger door and tried to pull out the carpet and the some wires from under the dash which were on fire but the flames were quickly spreading upwards into the dash. I dialed 911 and requested police and fire service which arrived a short time later but by the time the fire tender arrived the whole front of the car was engulfed in flames and most of the vehicle was destroyed.
I purchased this vehicle new from a Chevy dealership. The car was very low mileage for its age (estimated to be less than 64K), had never been in any sort of accident and was well maintained. The only recurring problem with this car was the Blower Motor Resistor wiring which had been replaced a few times during the life of the vehicle. I read somewhere this was a known fault but to the best of my knowledge GM have never issued a recall or a warning. In the past the symptom was a slight smell of burning and the blower motor ceased to work on one or more settings but was fine after this part was replaced. On this occasion I initially thought this was a repeat but this time things rapidly progressed and the vehicle caught fire and was a total loss. When I tried to stop the flames it looked like this wiring was on fire so I suspect this may have been the cause.
Previous to this I had been very happy with my Tahoe and intended to keep it for several more years but the car was a total write-off and while no one was seriously injured this incident was very traumatic.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
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I was driving my vehicle a short distance from my home in Florida. I was stopped at a red right waiting to turn left when I began to smell burning and then the car started to fill with smoke. I pulled over and exited the parked car and opened the passenger door and tried to pull out the carpet and the some wires from under the dash which were on fire but the flames were quickly spreading upwards into the dash. I dialed 911 and requested police and fire service which arrived a short time later but by the time the fire tender arrived the whole front of the car was engulfed in flames and most of the vehicle was destroyed.
I purchased this vehicle new from a Chevy dealership. The car was very low mileage for its age (estimated to be less than 64K), had never been in any sort of accident and was well maintained. The only recurring problem with this car was the Blower Motor Resistor wiring which had been replaced a few times during the life of the vehicle. I read somewhere this was a known fault but to the best of my knowledge GM have never issued a recall or a warning. In the past the symptom was a slight smell of burning and the blower motor ceased to work on one or more settings but was fine after this part was replaced. On this occasion I initially thought this was a repeat but this time things rapidly progressed and the vehicle caught fire and was a total loss. When I tried to stop the flames it looked like this wiring was on fire so I suspect this may have been the cause.
Previous to this I had been very happy with my Tahoe and intended to keep it for several more years but the car was a total write-off and while no one was seriously injured this incident was very traumatic.
- Den M., Tampa, US